Full AFC East Draft Recap

The 2012 NFL Draft is in the books. I’m not going to give out grades because I think it’s pretty stupid to judge guys who have not even stepped on an NFL field yet. Instead I will outline all of the picks for the AFC East and say what I liked and didn’t like about the 2012 NFL Draft.

Buffalo Bills

105th pick Nigel Bradham

10th Overall – Stephon Gilmore, CB, South Carolina

41st Overall – Cordy Glenn, OT, Georgia

69th Overall – A.J. Graham, WR, NC State

105th Overall – Nigel Bradham, OLB, Florida State

124th Overall – Ron Brooks, CB, Louisiana State

144th Overall – Zebrie Sanders, OT, Florida State

147th Overall – Tank Carder, MLB, Texas Christian

178th Overall – Mark Asper, OG, Oregon

251st Overall – John Potter, K, Western Michigan

WHAT I LIKED: Pretty much everything they did from Rounds 1-5 with the exception of A.J. Graham. Gilmore was the 2nd best CB in the draft and Cordy Glenn was a 1st round talent drafted in the 2nd. They added some guys with a lot of experience from big schools in rounds 4 and 5. Ron Brooks could be a real steal coming from a stacked LSU secondary that included Patrick Peterson, Morris Claiborne, and Tyronn Mathieu.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: This was a deep wide receiver draft and to end up with only Graham who had more of a mid round grade seems to be a bit disappointing. The Bills could have used more depth at WR, TE, and LB but went with a guard in the 6th round after taking two offensive linemen earlier in the draft.

Miami Dolphins

42nd pick Jonathan Martin

8th Overall – Ryan Tannehill, QB, Texas A&M

42nd Overall – Jonathan Martin, OT, Stanford

72nd Overall – Olivier Vernon, DE, Miami

78th Overall – Michael Egnew, TE, Missouri

97th Overall – Lamar Miller, RB, Miami

155th Overall – Josh Kaddu, LB, Oregon

183rd Overall – B.J. Cunningham, WR, Michigan State

215th Overall – Kheeston Randall, DT, Texas

227th Overall – Rishard Matthews, WR, Nevada

WHAT I LIKED: Martin is a good tackle prospect. He can play right tackle and if the Dolphins continue the purge and dump Jake Long after next season he can move over to the left side. Egnew will be able to catch the ball, just don’t ask him to block. Cunningham was productive in college. Lamar Miller is a low risk/high reward guy. He could replace Reggie Bush if they decide to jettison him.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Ryan Tannehill. I wasn’t enthralled by their front 7 picks.

New York Jets

202nd pick Terrance Ganaway

16th Overall – Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina

43rd Overall – Stephen Hill, WR, Georgia Tech

77th Overall – Demario Davis, MLB, Arkansas State

187th Overall – Josh Bush, S, Wake Forest

202nd Overall – Terrance Ganaway, HB, Baylor

203rd Overall – Robert T. Griffin, OG, Baylor

242nd Overall – Antonio Allen, SS, South Carolina

244th Overall – Jordan White, WR, Western Michigan

WHAT I LIKED: Stephen Hill is a high risk/high reward pick in the 2nd round but at his best could be a poor man’s Randy Moss. Davis will give them decent depth in the middle and provide for some Bart Scott insurance. I LOVED the Ganaway pick in round 6, that guy is a little ball of fire. Also loved the Antonio Allen pick in Round 7. He was very productive in college, that seems like great value.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: No one can talk me into liking the Coples pick. Melvin Ingram, Chandler Jones, even Courtney Upshaw were better options that were still on the board to bring in to rush the passer. I’m not sure a guy with a reputation of taking plays off is the best guy to add to the Jets locker room. They also took the wrong Robert Griffin from Baylor.

New England Patriots

21st pick Chandler Joens

21st Overall – Chandler Jones, DE, Syracuse

25th Overall – Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama

48th Overall – Tavon Wilson, FS, Illinois

90th Overall – Jake Bequette, DE, Arkansas

197th Overall – Nate Ebner, DB, Ohio State

224th Overall – Alfonzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska

235th Overall – Jeremy Ebert, WR, Northwestern

WHAT I LIKED: Obviously the aggressive moves in the 1st round. Belichick and co. picked up two huge pieces for their defense. Jones was the sexy pick because he’s the sack guy and has a UFC fighting brother but Hightower is the meat and potatoes guy that can be the heart of your defense. Jake Bequette is a solid pick, he’s your standard hard working, never give up defensive lineman.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Going way off the board for Wilson and Ebner. I’m not sure what the point is? I understand the Dennard pick but a guy doing something so stupid so close to a life-changing event just rubs me the wrong way (Dennard got arrested for assaulting a police officer last week). Guys like that don’t usually stick.

The Pats made the biggest impact early by securing Jones and Hightower in the 1st. The Bills I thought had the most consistent draft and really hit on their picks in rounds 4 and 5, which included a pick acquired for Lee Evans and Marshawn Lynch respectively. In total the 4 AFC East teams made 33 picks. Of those 33 picks 15 were on the offensive side of the ball, 17 on the defensive side, and 1 on special teams. The ACC had the most picks to the AFC East with 9. The SEC and Big 12 came in second with 5 each, the Pac-12 and Big 10 had 4 each, the Mountain West and MAC had 2 each and the Big East and Sun Belt Conference each had 1. Ryan Tannehill was the only QB picked by any of the AFC East teams. There was 6 WRs drafted, the most of any position.

Now all of these guys will get to work in the coming weeks with rookie mini-camps and OTA’s and then training camp. Some of these guys will make an immediate impact, some will sit for a while before they hit their strides and then some will never pan out at all. You never know what return you are going to get on any draft pick until they hit the field. That’s the beauty of the draft – it’s a crap-shoot. That said, I think it’s time for ESPN to give up their draft coverage because NFL Network was light years ahead of them in quality all weekend long.